THE FATHERHOOD CURRICULUM: MALE RESPONSIBILITY AND PREVENTION PROGRAM (MRPP)

The Health and Social Research Connection (HSRC)

This curriculum is intended to help male youth and fathers become Great Dads and gives them information and tools with which to achieve Responsible Fatherhood. It will help Young Families make responsible financial, social and support decisions and encourage great parenting skills and relationships with their children.

The Fatherhood Curriculum and Prevention Program (FCPP) uses The Dads for Life Curriculum and The Male Responsibility and Prevention Program (MRPP) Training Manual to teach effective fatherhood skills to male youth 12-21 years of age. The MRPP Curriculum is designed to assist professionals and parents in helping young men develop goals, education and jobseeking skills, knowledge about how to prevent STDs and HIV/AIDS, and what a Great Dad needs to know and do.

This curriculum can be used to help middle/high school students, fathers with child support obligation issues, and youth labeled “delinquent” who have been adjudicated and placed in juvenile justice residential facilities. It can be used by schools, religious organizations, government agencies, parents, counselors, foundations, and non profit organizations. It is based on an evidence-based scientifically formulated pilot program implemented and analyzed for a state agency and disabilities council.

The Problem:

The United States has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the industrialized world even though there has been some decrease in recent years. Teen pregnancy impacts the health and quality of life of children, young women and men, and their families and communities.

Teenage mothers are at higher risk of giving birth to low birthweight babies who will have higher risks of having developmental, emotional, and physical anomalies. As young American males become sexually active at ever younger ages, they endanger their health and welfare as well as those of their partners and children.

Many young men and women risk pregnancy and STD/HIV/AIDS by not using condoms. Many of them are fathering children and not taking responsibility or are unable to care for the needs of their babies and the mother of their babies. Some of these young fathers may be children, themselves. Thus, more and more children are being brought up by single females trying to make ends meet.

ONE OF THE MISSING LINKS MAY BE THE LACK OF PARENTING KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS-THE FCPP CAN PROVIDE GREAT INFORMATION, MANY OF THE SKILLS AND THE DESIRE TO BE A GREAT DAD. WITHOUT THESE ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS OF FATHERHOOD, THE SOCIOLOGICAL CYCLE OF POOR FATHERS BEGETTING POOR FATHERS, REPEATS ITSELF.

WE MUST BREAK THIS CYCLE!
Learning to become a Great Dad or Mom starts long before the birth of a baby.

Health and Social Research Associates (HSRA) partners with governmental, judicial, educational, and correctional agencies as well as hospital and psychomedical providers to develop and implement the Male Responsibility and Prevention Program (MRPP): Taking Back our Youth. MRPP emphasizes individual responsibility for fatherhood and skills to prevent unwanted teen pregnancy by utilizing a systematic approach that attempts to be culturally consistent and understandable to teens of all ages, races, and backgrounds.

As a prevention effort, this curriculum will address issues facing males (a female version of the curriculum is in develop) today. It encourages new beliefs and attitudes that will help each youth define how they, too, can be Great Dad, resulting in more responsible decision-making, more appropriate sexual behaviors, less teen pregnancies, and Responsible Fatherhood Behaviors. The Dads for Life Curriculum provides positive alternatives to deter early sexual involvement. It is based on a pilot project that was tested in eight 8 juvenile justice facilities and appears to be quite safe and useful in promoting safe sexual behaviors, positive fatherhood beliefs and attitudes and responsible decision-making.

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